Meta fined nearly 800 million euros for 'advertising' on Facebook

(CLO) Meta has been fined nearly 800 million euros by the EU for allegedly engaging in unfair competition by linking its 'classifieds' service Marketplace with the social network Facebook.

On November 14, Ms. Margrethe Vestager, the EU's competition chief, said that the Facebook-affiliated Marketplace product advertising service "imposed unfair trading conditions" on other online classified advertising providers.

Meta did this to give its Facebook Marketplace service an advantage that other providers couldn't match, she added. "This is illegal," she concluded.

Illustration photo.

For its part, Meta said it would appeal the €797.72 million fine imposed by regulators. "We built Marketplace to meet consumer needs... The European Commission's decision does not provide evidence of competitive harm to competitors or consumers," Meta's report said.

The EU's long-running antitrust investigation into Meta was launched in 2019 following allegations from rivals that the tech giant was abusing its dominant position by offering its services for free while profiting from data collected on the platform.

In December 2022, the European Commission issued initial charges against Facebook for using data collected for free, mainly from businesses, to sell advertising to users.

The EU Commission said on November 14 that Meta "dominates the market for personal social networks... as well as the national market for online display advertising on social media." Facebook Marketplace, launched in 2016, is a popular platform for buying and selling second-hand goods, especially household items such as furniture.

Meta has argued that the company operates in a highly competitive environment. In a post published on November 14, the tech giant said European marketplaces continue to “grow and dominate in the EU,” singling out platforms such as eBay, Leboncoin in France, and Marktplaats in the Netherlands as “formidable competitors.”

Ngoc Anh (according to FT)

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/meta-bi-phat-gan-800-trieu-euro-vi-rao-vat-tren-facebook-post321447.html